Why Lyude Wasn't Allowed to Have Sugar
by turquoisefox
Summary: Remember when Lyude commented he wasn't allowed to eat sugar? Did you wonder why that was? It's probably because he acts like a hyperactive freak when on a sugar high....


This was originally posted at the Namco Baten Kaitos forums. My screen name there is Moonfall86.

Disclaimer: I don't own nothing...I mean, I don't own anything.

Seven-year-old Lyude glanced cautiously around the corner. When he was sure no one could see him, he crept into the kitchen and climbed up on the counter. The last thing he needed was someone spotting him. If his brother or sister saw, they would tell on him for sure. Skeed and Vallye loved getting their little brother into trouble. If his nurse, Almarde, caught him, that would be even worse. Just being seen on climbing on the countertop would be enough to get him punished. However, Lyude was alone in the kitchen, and the prize was worth the risk.

Grinning, he grabbed the blue china sugar bowl and gleefully pulled off the lid. The bowl was filled to the top with the pure white sugar crystals the little boy craved. He snatched a handful and shoved it in his mouth, then he licked his fingers. Now he was really glad Almarde wasn't watching. Licking your fingers was bad manners, and Almarde hated bad manners. She hated bad manners almost as much as she hated it when Skeed put wasabi in her teacup. Ah, sugar. Forgetting eating it by the handful, Lyude tilted the bowl upward and began pouring the whole bowl into his mouth. When he was through, he replaced the lid and jumped off the counter.

Within a few minutes of eating all the sugar in the bowl, Lyude began feeling its effects. He felt like running. No, not running-jumping sounded better. What could be better for jumping than a bed? He dashed out of the kitchen, laughing happily, and headed for his bedroom. He vaulted onto the bed and began bouncing as hard as he could. The noise attracted some unwanted attention, though. Vallye poked her head into the room.

"Lyude, what are you doing" she asked.

"I'm jumpin' on the bed. What does it look like I'm doing"

"We're not supposed to jump on the furniture, you know. I'm telling Almarde"

"No you're not" Lyude cried. "'Cause I'm gonna tickle you" He bounced off the bed and landed on his sister. True to his word, he began tickling her mercilessly while laughing like a maniac.

"Stop it, you crazy freak! Stop it! Heeeeeelp"

"I'll stop if you promise you won't tell on me"

"Okay, okay, just no more tickling"

Lyude decided to let his sister go. He wasn't sure if she'd keep her promise not to tell on him, but tickling her was getting boring. He looked around for some other way to release his sugar-driven energy.

Lyude's system was in sugar-overdrive now. No activity seemed to hold his attention. He dashed into the hall, paused, decided there was nothing to do there, ran into the kitchen, changed his mind, then headed out the front door, still running.

Suddenly, he got the urge to make noise. While running down the street, Lyude began imitating the sound of a loud engine. As he passed, people couldn't help but stare at the seemingly crazed child. Occasionally he stopped making "vroom vroom" sounds long enough to smile and wave at a random person, but otherwise kept going until he reached the magnus shop. Lyude felt like talking to somebody, and the shopkeeper had always been nice to him.

"Hi! How are you today? I'm feeling great! I'm really really happy, and I can't stop running and jumping. Have you ever felt like that? I could just keep going all day long" He said all of this without stopping once for breath.

"Whoah, slow down, kid" said the shopkeeper, giving him an odd look. "You sure have a lot of energy. Shouldn't you be in school or something, though"

"No, I don't go to school. I'm homeschooled. Did you go to school? What's it like? Is it fun" 

The shopkeeper grinned. "You sure have a lot of questions." His smile was hiding his irritation. This kid was talking a mile a minutes, and he didn't know what to say to him. All that chatter was beginning to give him a headache. And just what was a child this young doing out by himself anyway? Shouldn't someone be watching him?

"Aren't your parents worried about you? Do they know you're here" He gave Lyude the kindest look he could muster given his current state of annoyance.

"My parents are dead, so I don't think they're looking for me. Can dead people look for you? I hope not. I don't want to see any ghosts, even if they're people I know. Ghosts are really scary, aren't they" 

The shopkeeper ignored Lyude's comments. "There must be somebody taking care of you. Isn't there anyone who might be worried that you're gone"

"My brother and sister don't care where I am unless they can get me in trouble for being there. My nurse doesn't know I'm gone. Do you think she'd be mad? I don't want to make her mad. Almarde can be scary when she's mad, and..." 

The shopkeeper cut him off before he could say any more. "You'd better get home before she starts worrying about you, then." It took all the self-control he had not to yell "Go away you little pest"

Lyude considered the shopkeeper's advice for a moment, then decided to take it. He wasn't having much fun talking to this man. For no reason in particular, he felt like skipping home. Just like before, people stared at him, but he didn't notice. The house seemed sort of boring, but Lyude figured there must be something to do.

Back at home, nobody seemed to have noticed Lyude had left. He found his brother, Skeed, sitting at the table eating a sandwich. Lyude plopped himself in a chair and began talking up a storm. "Whatcha eating? Can I have some"

Skeed gave his brother a dirty look. "What does it look like? It's a sandwich, you moron. And no, you can't have any."

Lyude persisted in playing a one-way game of 20 questions with his brother. "What are you going to do after you finish eating? Will you play with me? We could play tag. I bet you can't catch me. You want to play tag? It would be so much fun and..."

Skeed had had enough. "Shut up, you little pest" he snapped. "Go bother somebody else." 

"Okay" Lyude responded cheerfully. Normally he might have been upset at being called a pest, but he was too full of sugar-driven energy to notice.  
" I wonder what Almarde is doing" he said to himself.

He found Almarde in the next room, sitting in a chair reading. Grinning, Lyude crept behind the chair and covered her eyes with his hands. "Guess who" he shouted.

"What? Oh, you scared me, Lyude."

"How'd you know it was me"

"I recognized your voice." 

"Oh." He jumped onto her lap. "Can I have a hug"

Almarde smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "What has my little darling been up to this afternoon" 

Lyude grinned. "I've been running and jumping, and I just can't stop. I could go on like this all day."

"Well, aren't you energetic today"

"Will you play with me" Lyude gave her a pleading look.

Almarde thought for a moment. "I'll be glad to spend time with you, but only if we do something calm and quiet. If you started running around, I don't think I could keep up with you."

Lyude made a face. "Who wants to be quiet? I know I don't. I feel like moving around and shouting."  
"No shouting in the house, please." 

"I don't understand why I have to be so quiet indoors. Wouldn't it be worse to shout outside where more people can hear? I think so. What's so bad about noise anyway? Sometimes it makes things more fun." He jumped off Almarde's lap and began running around in circles. "This is fun! Don't you want to try it"

"No. Just looking at you makes me dizzy."

"Dizzy? That sounds like fun" He stopped running in circles and began spinning in place. "Wheeee! Look at the room spin! Everything is so blurry"

"Lyude, stop that" Almarde scolded. "You'll make yourself sick"

"No I won't" he assured her. He stopped spinning for a moment. "Whoah, everything's still spinning. I can't stand up straight." He started laughing like a maniac. "I'm dizzy! Wheeee" 

"Lyude, I don't know why you're so hyper all of a sudden, but I suggest you go calm down right now" Almarde looked at him sternly. "You know better than to act like this. Why don't you go play with your bunnycat? I bet he wants some attention."

"Okay, I'll go find him. Here, kitty kitty"

Almarde was relieved she had found a way to distract Lyude. Sure, she loved the boy, but he was starting to get on her nerves. She hoped he wouldn't do anything to upset the cat.

"Here, kitty, kitty" Lyude called. "Where are you hiding" After a short search of the house, he found Mr. Fuzzy, the bunnycat, sleeping on a windowsill. "There you are" he cried happily, picking up the grumpy-looking animal. "Let's play a game" He resumed running around like a crazy person, only this time, he held the bunnycat out in front of him, waving him around and making battleship noises. "Mr. Fuzzy can fly"  
The bunnycat started squirming and kicking. "Come on, Mr. Fuzzy! Don't be so boring." He continued pretending the cat was an airship, this time complete with gunfire noises.

"Lyude, what are you doing to that bunnycat? I don't think he likes it very much" Vallye observed. Lyude hadn't noticed his sister enter the room.

"We're playing 'battleship.' Want to play with us"

Vallye looked at her brother like he was an idiot. "No thanks. When that cat attacks you, I'm not going to feel sorry for you."

"Hm, maybe he doesn't like this game. Maybe he'll like the next one better. Up you go, Mr. Fuzzy" Lyude tossed the poor bunnycat up into the air and caught him. "Wheee! Isn't this fun"  
Mr. Fuzzy obviously didn't think so, because he jumped out of Lyude's arms and went tearing across the house. Almarde noticed the bunnycat run past her and wondered what Lyude had done now. "Lyude, what did you do to Mr. Fuzzy" she demanded upon discovering the boy wearing a confused and disappointed look. Almarde winced slightly at the bunnycat's name. She couldn't remember which of the children had come up with the stupid idea to name their pet "Mr. Fuzzy."

"He doesn't wanna play with me." Lyude whined.

"From the way he shot across the house, I'd say you did something he didn't like. What were you doing"

"I was making him fly, then I started tossing him in the air. I thought it looked like fun." 

"Lyude! You can't treat an animal like that. No wonder he ran away from you."

Lyude looked at the ground, ashamed. Suddenly, he didn't feel too well. "Almarde, I feel sick. My head and tummy hurt."

She felt his forehead. "No fever." Almarde paused for a moment. First, Lyude was insanely hyperactive, now he felt sick...suddenly it all made sense. "Lyude, have you been eating sugar"

The boy nodded hesitantly, afraid of being punished.

"How much did you eat" Almarde continued the interrogation.

"The whole bowl" Lyude murmured.

"You were eating sugar straight from the bowl? No wonder you're sick! It's a wonder you didn't throw up! I'm not going to punish you this time because it's obvious you've learned your lesson. Why don't you go lie down and see if you feel better"

Normally, Lyude would have refused and insisted naps were for babies, but he felt so lousy, he didn't want to argue.

A few minutes later, Almarde decided to check on him. She found Lyude curled up on his bed with his teddy bear, asleep. He was so adorable, it was hard to stay mad even if he did eat a whole bowl full of sugar and spend the day acting like an idiot. "No more sugar binges for you" she whispered as she covered the boy with a blanket.


End file.
